DESCRIPTION: The services of the Cellular Neuroscience Core cover conventional histology such as tissue processing and staining, video enhanced and laser scanning confocal microscopy, cell culture, and most recently patch clamp electrophysiology. The Core provides essential facilities and services for federally funded research projects held by 27 investigators. The individual core service areas are supervised by three faculty members responsible for the daily operations and quality control. They are each assisted by a technician they have trained. The two older parts of the Core include histology and neuropathology services supervised by Dr. Jeffrey Golden, the new Director of this part of the Core; the confocal microscopy facilities are under the supervision of Dr. Peter Bannerman. The newest core service is patch clamp electrophysiological measurement of ligand-activated currents, which is supervised by Dr. Douglas Coulter, a new faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics. At this stage the electrophysiology service is offered mainly as a collaboration between Dr. Coulter and other investigators who need functional data for their studies. At the site visit, Dr. David Pleasure announced that he intends to step down as Director of the Cellular Neuroscience Core during the proposed project period. He will then be replace by Dr. Jeffrey Golden, and he will assume the role of Co-Director at that time.